Monday, December 31, 2007

This has been a recent topic on the Megomuseum forums and I thought it would be perfect to discuss. A lot of people seemed to remember something about this and then enter Craig Crane with this amazing UK version of the program to this very surreal show. Craig also has a blog where he plans to animate Palitoy Action Man dolls, should be fun to watch.

Actually the marriage of the live action batman series with the looney toons characters makes sense if you consider they were afternoon staples in syndication. If you saw this as a kid and have pictures I would love to feature them here.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Our final catalog of the year is kind of fitting as it's a retro look into the future. This is the first in our series of retro playground equipment, when galvanised pipe and concrete could be made to form rockets, giants bugs or tee pees. Click here to check out Space Themed Play Grounds.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

This is one of my more cherised items, a Christmas wish list I created in 1979 clipping items out of the Sears catalog. As you can see the Mego collecting bug was strong even then and I still can't spell millenium. As I recall it was a pretty great haul and yes, I got a new Cat Calendar, I obviously liked kitty cats when was nine.

This is from the back, I needed to show my grandmother what green Goblin looked like, believe it or not, she found it!

Technical issues still prevent Forgotten TV from happening today (It will return next Sunday) so I thought I'd show a page from something I'm working on, the 1980 Ben Cooper halloween costume catalog. While Hulk and Red Skull work as masks, the Batman and Spider-Man are somewhat creepy thanks to the materials used. How old is Batman supposed to be, it looks like an octogenarian under that cowl!

Friday, December 21, 2007

With the holiday season almost here it seemed like an appropriate time to once again look at the toy departments of long ago, Vintage Toy Stores Part Fouroffers more shots of forgotten retailers and their shelves packed with memories. Look for appearances by Mego Superheroes, the Shogun Warriors, AMT model kits, Fisher Price Little People and much, much more.....

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

I'm going to start bringing in some more vintage toy industry ads once again and what better way to start than this cool Star Trek poster set. I'm pretty sure I had one of these for Star Wars back in the day. Here is a close up of the art.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Somebody asked me recently if I'd ever seen these and at that point I hadn't, so I hope he's reading. Space:1999 was a big influence on me as a kid but I can't imagine my kids watching a serious one hour long space drama. I guess that's why you don't see "Stargate SG1" pajama's today.

I want to preface by saying I like the Motion Picture and I think this figure is actually a nice sculpt. Ilia makes this list because she got a figure before Uhura, Sulu, Checkov or even Spock in his cool hippie duds at the start of the film.

Also, this figure was the worst seller in the line, I bought two at a major department store in 1987, on the shelf for 8 years, that's gotta be some sort of peg warmer record.

Friday, December 14, 2007

These great little colour digests were likely distributed in newspapers and at retail locations, hoping to load children's Christmas wishlists with Mattel products. It's a great smattering of hot toys of the day from the classic Barbie and Hot Wheels to 70's phenoms Pulsar and the Sweathogs, this booklet is a nice cruise down memory lane. Click here to see inside.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

These kits by Aurora, Addar and AMT pretty much sum up the early seventies for me, Superheroes, Planet of the Apes and Star Trek. I had a lot of these even though I really couldn't build or paint them worth a damn. The Aurora Superhero kits became impromptu action figures when I didn't have the mego figure.

In fact, my dad sold the Aurora Superhero kits, the picture below is a shot from his showroom circa 1975. Click here to see more.

Friday, December 07, 2007

One of the most influential Action toy lines of the 1970's, the Fisher Price Adventure people were North America's first 3 3/4" line of action figures and vehicles. These durable toys had great play value and lasted for nearly a decade, here we have a glimpse at the 1983 catalog where the adventure has more of a sci fi slant than ever before.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

G.I. Joe meets the Six Million Dollar Man, that's a cross over that happened more than once in my house. This page comes from Simpsons, a long gone Canadian retailer.

Speaking of cross overs, you can see the other side to this beautiful double page spread (which features Big Jim and Mego) at the Megomuseum. It's not quite a cool a crossover as "JLA/JSA" more of a "Diff'rent Strokes" meets "Hello Larry" kind of thing.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

I was going through a 70's playground equipment catalog (more on that later) and was amazed to discover this, the "Swim Mobile" a portable pool that you drove into places and events to provide comfort on a hot day. I always thought it was just something imagined by the writers of the Simpsons.

The "Swim Mobile" is much nicer than it's companion piece The "Boxing Mobile" which is a portable pugilism display system.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

After doing a bit about the Superman Talking Alarm click it seemed fitting to discuss this one, probably the most memorable of all Janex talking clocks. I seem to remember TV commercials for this although I could be wrong. I wanted one as a kid but the more I go through old catalogues, the more I realize, I wanted everything as a kid....

Sunday, December 02, 2007

I'm going to devote a couple of times a month to obscure stuff in my video collection, mostly forgotten or short lived TV from the 70's/80's. The first show I chose to highlight is Cliffhangers.

Cliffhangers was produced by Kenneth Johnson (V, The Incredible Hulk) and it's concept was throwback to the movie serials of the 30's and 40's, each show would contain 3 separate adventures, each week it they would end with a "cliffhanger" (hence the title).

1) The Curse of Dracula: which depicted the count as a handsome University professor in modern day San Francisco.

2) The Secret Empire: A homage to the Gene Autrey Serial "The Phantom Empire" this story featured a US Marshal who uncovers an underground society of technologically advanced aliens run by the evil Mark (Star Trek) Lenard

3) Stop Susan Williams: international adventure starring Susan Anton as a jet setting reporter who manages to get herself into some deadly situations.

As a child, the Secret Empire was my favourite, so I leave you with an episode.

Friday, November 30, 2007

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) -- Evel Knievel, the hard-living motorcycle daredevil whose exploits made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Knievel’s death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Krysten Knievel. He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs.

Knievel had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his bone-shattering spills.

Ideal's Evel Knievel was one of the most popular toy lines of the early 1970's, by 1975 Ideal hoped to expand the line by adding adventure to it and of course bringing the girls in with Derry Daring. Click here to see the catalog.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

With all the nonsensical toys running about like Hulk Utility belts, it's nice to see logical roll play items like this Emergency set. Although I doubt the guys from Rampart wore pictures of themselves on their helmets. That's a weird thing that would always bother me as a kid.....

Monday, November 26, 2007

Detour Magazine (which is an awesome read BTW) published a cool little piece on yours truly today, as an added bonus they didn't use the picture of me I regretted sending in the first place. Life is good! Check out the piece here.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Spring Supplement Catalogs usually include things that didn't make it into the February Toyfair in a bid to make it out in time for the Christmas season. The 1978 Kenner Catalogis a prime example featuring some classic goodies and a few that just didn't make it under anybody's tree that year.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

This disco playset probably looked a whole heck of a lot more innocent back in the day, now the guy figure looks a lot like Eric Roberts in "Star 80". I cut it off but you can see his "Mid life crisis mobile" which was sold separately.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Janex is probably best known for their Batman and Robin talking alarm clock which was a big hit. Their Superman clock is lesser known and no wonder, while Batman and Robin started your day with their snappy " Hey Chum and Holy This!" banter, Superman seemed to just nag you. I mean "Better get up or you'll be late"? This is the man of steel!

This paints Superman as the sort of guy who buys kids "slacks" for Christmas.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Dressing alike continues to boggle my mind, one stumbled upon reviewer claims it had to do with the rise of the liberated woman and that men would be forced to do such things in order to get with a girl.

It's not a stretch for me to believe, heck i could see a young version of myself going for that but I still think dressing up like a clock you'd find at a flea market hurts both of you.